Our trip to the heart of the
Karakorum goes without problems. In Islamabad we did all the necessary
paperwork in a couple of frantic days. Smothered under a heat of more than 46
degrees Celsius, we found our old friends of Pakistan, Nazir, Ghulam, Nadeem,
good people with whom we have lived good moments in previous expeditions to
this country.

From Islamabad we took the
bus to travel on the Karakorum Highway for 32 endless hours. The condition of
this semi-road is deplorable and as the hours go by it gets worst. Finally, we
reached Skardu yesterday, the entrance gate to the world of large mountains in
this region. It is a calm village, with a crowded bazaar and is located on the
edge if the Indo. We spent the day here checking the loads, organizing
everything so that it will be easy to assign each load to the porters later.
Tomorrow we will go to Askole, the last place we can reach in a vehicle,
through an arid and mountainous terrain that will lead us to that location.
There we will hire our porters, around 60 and we will start to walk to the
Baltoro glacier.

In all this trip we have the
company of eleven friends who wanted to know these places and how an
expedition is organized from the beginning. They are enjoying it and don’t
stop getting surprised of this special world they are discovering.

Everything goes well so far.
Everything is going as planed and that is reflected in the group. Raul,
Adrian, Gonzalo and yours truly are satisfied and excited with what is about
to come. We make a good team and, in fact, we are enjoying this expedition. We
will soon get into the mountains and we will start to see the spectacular and
mythical summits like Gasherbrum IV, Masherbrum, Trango Tower and finally the
king of this place, K2. How many memories come to us and what a privilege to
be able to watch all this with the company of good friends. I cannot ask for
more for the moment.

Translated from Spanish by
Jorge Rivera

Earlier:

FIRST NEWS ABOUT THE EXPEDITION

By carlos pauner

As usual and with renewed strength, there is news about the expedition that
left yesterday from Barcelona to Pakistan.
So far they are fine and doing the pertinent paperwork to start the
expedition. They are immersed in bureaucracy with the Ministry, the helicopter
company, last shopping…
Carlos said everything is calm despite the problems in Islamabad, the capital
of Pakistan.
They will leave day after tomorrow to Skardu by bus and it will take forty
eight hours to travel.

By carlos pauner

IN SKARDU

The group of climbers led by Carlos Pauner and the group of people who will do
trekking in Baltoro have finally reached Skardu (2,300 m.)
They reached their destiny by bus after thirty two hours (more than expected)
because the road was in very poor conditions. Now they will organize the loads
and the carriers and they will leave to Askole day after tomorrow.
Although Pakistan is now in a difficult situation, Pauner said that everything
is calm around him.
As things are going, it is expected that they will reach base camp around July
6 or 7.
We will keep posting as news arrive.
translated by Jorge Rivera

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